Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Robert Celmer, director of the Acoustics Program and Laboratory in the College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture, will be a guest on the "Colin McEnroe Show" on WNPR Radio (90.5 FM) on Wednesday, July 25, from 1 to 2 p.m.,
to discuss the role of sound in everyday life and explore the line that
differentiates sound from noise. The show can be heard online by clicking here.
Source: http://www.hartford.edu/daily/Article/View/13234

Hemchandra Shertukde, professor of electrical and computer engineering, has co-authored a chapter in the recently published third edition of Electric Power Transformer Engineering
edited by James H. Harlow. Shertukde wrote the chapter titled
"Transformers for Wind Turbine Generators and Photovoltaic Applications"
with David E. Buckmaster. Visit www.crcpress.com or www.taylorandfrancis.com for more details.

In addition, CRC Press of Taylor & Francis Group has awarded
Shertukde, who will be on sabbatical in the fall, a contract to write a
book on Distributed Photovoltaic(DPV)-GRID Transformer Applications by
the end of the year.
Source: http://www.hartford.edu/daily/Article/View/13238

Ivana Milanovic, professor of mechanical engineering, College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture (CETA), presented a research paper at the American
Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Heat Transfer, Fluids
Engineering, & Nano-, Micro- and Mini-channels Conference
(HTFNMM2012) this month in Puerto Rico. The HTFNMM Conference
brought together international researchers and engineers focusing on
heat and mass transfer and fluid flow in a variety of applications. The
objectives of the meeting were to provide a forum for the presentation
of state-of-the-art research and opportunities for technical
interactions among participants.

The research paper "Effect of
Artifical Perturbation on Unsteady Wake Vortices in Jets in Cross-Flow,"
was co-authored with Khairul Zaman and Timothy Bencic of NASA Glenn
Research Center. The experimental study examined unsteady wake vortices
of jets in cross-flow and explored the possibility of periodic
perturbation of these vortices with oscillating tabs. Tab oscillation
introduced periodicity of the flow manifesting by side-to-side
oscillatory motion of the entire flow field with varying phase.

Milanovic also co-organized the 11th Symposium on Fundamental Issues
and Perspectives in Fluid Mechanics and 5th Symposium on the Transport
Phenomena in Mixing.

Ladimer S. Nagurney, Associate Professor of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering, CETA, is the co-author of a article, Medical Nuclear Supply Chain Design: A Tractable Network Model and Computational Approach, that has been accepted for publication in the International Journal of Production Economics.
The article was co-authored with Professor Anna Nagurney of the
Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts
Amherst.

This is the first article of its kind, discussing the
supply chain for the most important Medical Radioisotope, Mo99-Tc99m,
and explicitly includes the radioactive decay, radioactive waste
disposal, and shipping constraints due to the radioactivity in this
supply chain.

CETA
Professor Lee
Townsend was given the honor of having her Excel VBA code published on the
Contextures blog. Contextures.com is
one of the well established goto sites for learning Excel. The code
written by Professor Townsend documents the structure of the VBA code in an
Excel workbook, thus allowing an easy method for tracking procedure calls.
She is in the process of improving it. Classes and Forms have been
added and a procedure flow tree is in the works.

She
has written the code for several Excel workbooks over the last few years that
may be of interest to our UH community. They work on both Mac and PC.
One identified the prerequisite grade history of students enrolled in a
particular course based on reports from the Registrar. Another, created
in collaboration with Professor Patricia Mellodge, takes the data from
Registrar reports then creates a worksheet for the Academic Standings Committee
that contains GPAs, course completion rates etc. for the over 800 CETA
students. A third take the University schedule as generated by Class
Search then reformats it for usability. A few of its features are
presentation of room and faculty schedules on a UH weekly schedule form,
identification of conflicts for both faculty and students, identification of
required course availability for a given major and semester, and the ability to
present in a graphical format the overlapping schedules for a set of given
CRNs. Please contact Professor Townsend (ltownsend@hartford.edu) if you are
interested in seeing the codes in action for possible porting to your UH
college.

The University of Hartford student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) participated in the National Steel Bridge Competition
for the first time this spring. The competition is sponsored by the
national ASCE organization and AISC (American Institute of Steel
Construction). The University of Hartford competed in the regional
tournament, hosted on the campus of UMass-Amherst this year.

The
competition requires students to simulate a realistic design and
construction scenario. This year’s rules required teams to construct a
model scale bridge 22 feet long and 3 feet wide as proof of concept for a
larger structure. There were very strict limits related to the geometry
and construction of the bridge.

The bridge must be built up
entirely of pieces that fit within a 4"x6" box that is three feet long.
Those pieces were all fabricated – cut, drilled, and welded – by the
student team in advance of the competition. At the competition site, the
team is judged on their ability to construct the bridge quickly and
without penalty (i.e. stepping in an area designated as “water,”
dropping a tool, etc.)

The bridge is further judged for its
strength and stiffness in a load test once assembled. Strength-to-weight
ratio is a major scoring criterion. The bridge is also judged for its
aesthetic appeal.

The University of Hartford team’s bridge
survived the many rigors of the competition – a rare feat for a team
competing in its first year. They finished 9th of the 11 teams in the
regional competition. The student group is energized for next year’s
competition now that they have a better understanding of what it takes
to compete. They considered it a valuable learning and team-building
experience.

The project was sponsored by the University of
Hartford SGA, Connecticut Society of Civil Engineers, Bartlett Brainard
and Eacott, United Steel, Shepard Steel, Macri Associates, Construction
Institute, and CT Space Grant.
SOURCE: http://www.hartford.edu/daily/Article/View/13217

CETA Professor Lee Townsend
was awarded senior membership in The Optical Society (OSA).She was one of the 142 members chosen this
year out of a total membership of more than 17,000
individuals from over 100 countries.The
importance of the senior member distinction is underscored by the dedication
and outstanding accomplishments of its recipients. OSA Senior Members are
well-established individuals with a designation that recognizes their
experience and professional accomplishments or service within their field that
sets them apart from their peers. Senior Members have at least 10 years of
significant professional experience and are active OSA Individual
Members. Congratulations to Professor Townsend on this achievement!

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Participants in the "Mad About Science" program and their parents attended an orientation session in the spring.

Sixteen
middle school-age girls will be going “Mad About Science” later this
month through a unique collaboration between the Women’s Education and
Leadership Fund (WELFund), Summer Place, and the University’s Office of
Community Relations.

"Mad About Science" is an
innovative new summer scholarship program that is designed to inspire
girls to pursue their love of science, technology, engineering and math
(STEM). The goal is to encourage future female scientists, engineers and
mathematicians.

The two-week, full-day program will take place on campus from July 23-August 3
during the third session of Summer Place, the University’s popular
summer enrichment camp for kids. The 16 participating girls will
experience hands-on STEM programming in the afternoon and take part in
athletics and other Summer Place activities in the morning. The STEM
portion of the program will be taught by Assistant Professor Mary Arico of the College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture (CETA).

The program is free of charge for the participating girls. This
opportunity was made possible through the generous support of the Connecticut Space Grant Consortium, WELFund, Summer Place and the Office of Community Relations.

The participants, who are entering grades 6-9, were chosen through an
application process in which they had to answer several questions about
their interest in STEM and provide a recommendation from a teacher or a
guidance counselor. About 100 girls applied for the 16 spots, said Donna Haghighat, grants and programs manager for WELFund.

In selecting the students, organizers “made every effort to strive for
geographic diversity,” Haghighat said. Community Relations Manager Christine Grant
said that “It was extremely important to the committee that we
recruited young women from our neighboring communities of Hartford, West
Hartford, and Bloomfield as part of the selection process.” In
addition to those towns, participants come from East Hartford,
Newington, Windsor, Rocky Hill, Middletown, Windsor Locks, and Coventry.

Organizers worked with school systems and women’s
organizations to recruit students for the “Mad About Science” program.
Many of the girls who were not selected for “Mad About Science” were
referred to the Connecticut Pre-Engineering Program (CPEP), which also is holding programs on campus this summer.

“Mad About Science” will feature many hands-on STEM activities. For
example, the participating girls will learn how to design interactive
accessories by programming small computer chips called LilyPads.
LilyPads make clothes react to their surroundings, and will help the
girls discover how bones and muscles allow us to move.
Source: http://www.hartford.edu/daily/Article/View/13188